Some
four decades ago, I was fortunate to take lessons in sabre fencing from
the incomparable Giorgio Santelli. I have decided, while my recollection
of these lessons is still clear, to put them on paper--they may be of
some value to our local sabreurs.

Around
the turn of this century, Luigi Barbasetti and Italo Santelli (father
of Giorgio) were instrumental in developing a system for sabre teaching
that incorporated the best features of the classical Italian School
and the emerging Hungarian School. So successful were they that Hungary,
a small country with a population of 3,000,000, produced Olympic and
World Champions (individual and team), for the next sixty years.

The
essence of this new system was a solid, sober defensive scheme based
on the parries (point up) of Quarte and Tierce, plus the head parry
of Quinte. These were blocking (bloquee) parries intended only to close
the line. The power and speed of the attacking cut was absorbed (distributed)
into the mass (forte) of the defending blade, the result being a a recognizably
valid parry that clearly arrested the finale of the attack. The French
Maitre Roger Crosnier succinctly expressed this parry principle thus:
Forte versus Foible.

Assuming
that the sabreur is right-handed (droitier), Quarte (four) is formed
by moving the weapon carefully to the left, sufficiently to close the
inside line. The point leads, the arm is well bent and the elbow is
close to the hip. When forming Tierce (three) the blade is perpendicular,
the wrist broken to the right, the arm bent and the elbow close to the
hip. The sabreur who lacks confidence in this parry may feel comfortable
by positioning his point further to the right. In so doing, however,
he may retard his riposte or create problems in forming the parry of
Quinte. In executing the parry of Quinte (five) in this system, the
arm is bent and the blade is horizontal. The elbow is tucked in and
the bellguard (coquille) is positioned to the right so that the forte
of the blade protects the entire width of the mask.

Even
when the student is fully confident in his parries, he should always
consider stepping back as he forms them. Quoting the Maitre Raul Clery:
Rompre n'est pas fuir - "to retreat is not to flee."
Here the coach should make certain that the student does not develop
the dangerous habit of attempting to riposte while retreating.

While
the older parries of Prime and Seconde (point down) do not fit into
this modern defensive system, the knowledgeable student nevertheless
should be familiar with them. For example: the head parries of Quinte
(courte) and Quinte (longue) are surprisingly different! Fencers who
are comfortable with this defensive system will be comfortable also
with the direct riposte, a single tempo action executed from
the parry position as rapidly as possible.

The
defender should realize that, in most parry-riposte situations, the
fencers are closer than usual, the consequence being that the space
between them (the French call it le couloir or corridor and some
British coaches refer to it as No-Man's Land) can easily become congested:
bellguards collide, blades are immobilized, the riposte is spoiled.
To avoid this situation, the riposter should carefully direct his blade
into an area where he perceives that there is room to score. In practice
this usually means no more than completely extending his arm while positioning
the blade in such a fashion that he touches with the foible, the last
4-6 inches of the blade. In effect he places his foible into an area
that his opponent cannot easily close with a parry.

In
order to avoid being completely predictable, every fencer should include
the indirect riposte in his arsenal. This stroke, executed by
coupe or disengage, can be unexpectedly effective, especially when concluded
by a thrust rather than a cut.

The
other ripostes, delayed or compound, should be used only
when the riposter has evaluated his opponent and is sure of his reactions.
The opponent, for example, who is not disconcerted by a change in tempo
may respond with a remise or, declining to follow the feint, may decide
to try a stop-hit.

In
conclusion: the basic concept of this system is obvious and simple:
Defend so well that you never get hit! Here is sound advice that makes
sense to both coach and student.